Americorps

Bethlehem Farm transforms lives through service with the local community and the teaching of sustainable practices. It is an intentional community located in Talcott, WV that provides education on local foods and sustainability to the local community as well as to service week volunteers that come from all over the country to work in gardens and on build projects. AmeriCorps Caretakers serve as service week leaders, coordinate and develop the Repairing Homes, Renewing Communities (RHRC) program, and interact with volunteer groups during their visit to Bethlehem Farm.

Coalfield Development is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help build resilient rural communities with socially, environmentally, and financially thriving economies which create the community conditions for all kinds of people to unlock their full potential, power, and purpose. Serve with our Agriculture program which will have several key areas of service, all related to food systems development at various levels with a primary focus around agriculture training. As an AmeriCorps member, you will: coordinate community outreach, trainings, and educational events around farming and local food; develop and organize a volunteer plan; coordinate volunteer groups; and recruit participants for trainings, education events, volunteer opportunities, and outreach activities.

The AmeriCorps member will provide information to Fayette County schools on the local WV farm raised foods they receive to serve on their cafeteria lines and talk with students during lunch about the local products and farms they came from. The member will coordinate planting, care, and harvesting demonstrations provided by local farmers who are supplying our cafeterias. The member will serve with non-profit farms to set up Pop Up Farmer’s markets at all the Elementary schools in county. These markets help kids exercise freedom in choosing their fruits and vegetables. After a Pop Up Market children often try fruits and vegetables they wouldn’t have otherwise. The AmeriCorps member will also mentor with the county Agriculture Education Instructor to provide the support and education needed for High School students to orient their Supervised Agricultural Experiences next summer to provide produce for the Summer Food Service Program and National School Lunch Program in the Fall.

An AmeriCorps member will focus their service on planning new community-oriented events, recruiting students and volunteers; Planning and delivering youth-based community events to promote wellness; Planning and delivering a youth-based activities fair; Planning and delivering special programming weekly for youth participating in ENGAGE After-school; and striving to create an environment of learning and inspiration.

Greenbrier Community School (GCS) is a place of collaboration, trust, and civility. We are a community of learners with classes from 18-months to 5th grade. Our pedagogy is innovative, our values are grounded in time-honored tradition with a commitment to be on the forefront of the progressive ideas that produce the best education and learning environments. Our curriculum is innovative and student-centered with an emphasis on independent thinking and problem-solving. Our students mature into confident, self-directed learners who recognize the value of collaboration and cooperation in the learning environment. The AmeriCorps member will recruit and coordinate the activities of community volunteers for school programs; mentor k – 5 students and serve as a positive role model; engage with students to promote wellness and healthy choices and lifestyles; and engage with students to promote lifetime engagement with learning.

The Greenbrier County Health Alliance (GCHA) is sponsored by the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Center for Rural and Community Health with grant funding from West Virginia Clinical Translational Science Institute. The GCHA’s mission is to empower all local communities in Greenbrier County to improve health through community action and innovative programming.  A key component to the Alliance coordinated approach for the community health outreach is the use of community ambassadors. AmeriCorps members serve to expand the ‘community ambassador’ project and support ambassadors to represent their community’s needs and provide solution-focused leadership to promote health behaviors.

Mountain SOL is an outdoor education non-profit focused on nature awareness, stewardship, and outdoor leadership. Our classes are more than just lesson plans taught outside – they are engaging, fully-immersed experiences. We emphasize passion, personal responsibility, and leadership skills to guide our next generation on the path of building a more just and resilient Appalachia. Mountain SOL School is about connection – connection to oneself, to friends, to community, and to the greater circle of life. We strive not only to give students opportunities to learn practical skills like wilderness survival, but also teamwork, leadership, and a passion to protect the natural world and cultivate a community of support and acceptance.

New Roots Community Farm is an 82-acre agricultural resource center based in Fayetteville, WV that operates a 6-acre diversified vegetable production demonstration farm to support the local ag-entrepreneurs and producers that have the potential to underpin the development of a more diverse and resilient localized economy in the New River Gorge Region. We aim to expand access to markets for both producers and consumers. We aim to get fresh, local food into the hands of people who need it most. As an AmeriCorps member, you will increase the organization’s capacity to implement community food access programming through coordination and hosting of school groups for on-farm field trips, assist with on-campus garden development, Farm-to-School curriculum and program development, collaborate with additional staff and Fayette County Schools AmeriCorps members to implement nutrition/agriculture-based curricula to PreK – 8th Grade students, help plan and facilitate food access markets, and help host on-farm markets and events.

Pocahontas County Libraries & Visitor Information Centers (PCLVIC)  is comprised of five libraries, stretching from one end of our rural West Virginian county to the other. The main branch, McClintic Library, is in Marlinton, with additional branches in the communities of Durbin, Green Bank, Hillsboro and Linwood. PCLVIC’s mission is to “fulfill the informational needs of our residents and visitors”. An AmeriCorps position supports increasing library relevancy for youth.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS) was organized in 1982. We are a chapter of the National Audubon Society and draw our members from Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties in West Virginia and Washington County, Maryland. PVAS offers a wide variety of youth events and programs for children, adults, and families. Our goal is to get people of all ages outside to explore and learn about the natural world. We also work closely with a variety of partners to conserve natural areas for habitat protection and for people’s enjoyment. AmeriCorps members will engage with students in grade specific programs and provide learning opportunities for students in both in the classroom and at day camps for youth from pre-K –6th grade.

Renick Community Center offers numerous opportunities for community members to come together for activities that enrich their lives. We host open invitation events including Music Night, made in West Virginia Showcase, Farmers Markets, Ice Cream Socials, and a variety of classes focused on health and wellness. As an AmeriCorps member, you will provide community outreach support for the Center by providing information about what’s happening at the Center utilizing social media, flyers, and other promotional tools; help organize community events, recruit volunteers to assist with events, and collaborate and communicate with partners about the Center’s facilities and services.

The Shepherd University Center at Tabler Farm is developing a community engaged regional center for training, innovation, and research in sustainable agriculture practices that integrate farms into natural landscapes. We collaborate with local organizations to provide fresh produce and farm/food education. AmeriCorps members will assist with community and university outreach and engagement including networking, organizing talks about the program, scheduling and hosting tours and field trips to our farm, and general promotion of the program. The member will also serve as a leader for direct engagement with the farm, leading students and volunteers in their service at the farm production site.

An AmeriCorps member will serve by networking with and forming community partnerships for running/walking programs – and individuals – statewide and getting a wide range of them involved as community partners to help improve health and wellness attitudes in West Virginia. Placing information about new community group partners on the Web site. Making the Web site calendar a true statewide calendar with as many races/events on it as you can find. In-state and out-of-state people should be able to look at it and find out what’s happening at any given time. Helping support, organize, publicize and participate in the workshops that occur during your service. Making short “how-to” videos that will be useful to West Virginians who want to start a local volunteer running program.

WVU Hospitals mission and vision is to continually improve the health status of our region through the provision of high-quality, cost-effective health care and wellness services. Our AmeriCorps member will focus on increasing access to healthy food, physical activity, resources, and education in the Eastern Panhandle community. Their main projects will include reinstituting a community garden, supporting a local produce prescription program, and creating a community resource guide for people with diabetes.

The WVSOM Center for Rural and Community Health supports the osteopathic medical education focus on team-based and patient-centered care and the integration of prevention and population health to improve quality and efficiency of health care delivery.  This is accomplished by developing programs that contribute to improving health in rural communities, supporting clinical research in rural practices, developing resources that support these efforts, providing education to communities, rural providers and students, and developing collaborations that support these efforts.